Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Merry Christmas Update

To catch us up, here are lots of pictures from the last few months. We vacationed in France, had a spooky Halloween, a yummy Thanksgiving and we are gearing up for Christmas...


Farmer Luke in Normandy



Parent tip #932: Kids LOVE balloons!


Luke's cousin Lavinia takes him under her wing

Louis and his sisters Yasmine and Ariane.
Luke and his cousins Henry, Renee and Lavina.


Luke is pleased with the French cuisine


Luke on his second birthday,
dressed up for his great grandmother's 100th birthday celebration


Just another day at the office



Luke and Jen, hanging out


Luke cheating injury once again


Too much sugar!


Luke's first pony ride


Luke on the Deauville boardwalk


Renee pointing out a butterfly to Luke at the butterfly sanctuary


Lavina, Luke and Renee turning into butterflies



Back to Austin... football season, yay!


Splash time with Gabby in our backyard


Luke and Grandpa having fun


Grandpa saving Luke as he cheats injury once again


Smile!


Carving the pumpkin before Halloween... yummy


A job well done!


At the pumpkin patch


Luke and Gabby, awwww


Luke the cowboy, yee ha! Happy Halloween!


Martin Armstrong


Luke's buddies: Gabby, Luke, Vivian, Ellie, Zach, Winston, Martin


Luke and Gabby Trick or Treating


Hanging Christmas lights around the house

Decorating gingerbread house and noses

That's all for now! Happy holidays!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A boring day in Chicago

A couple weeks after moving in to our new house we were off to France for a family visit and to celebrate the 100th birthday of my Grandmother. We were scheduled to fly from Austin to Chicago, then Chicago to Paris. Our (mis)adventure started in Chicago. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly as far as killing several hours in an airport during a layover can go, and we boarded our flight to Paris in good spirits. We proceeded to sit for over two hours on an unairconditioned plane before they announced that the plane had irreparable mechanical problems and they were canceling the flight. By now it was after 7pm which is Luke's usual bedtime and we are thinking "Oh no, don't mess with the bedtime, this is not going to end well." We packed up our belongings, got off the plane, and waited an hour in line to rebook a flight. It was too late to catch any other flight to Paris and, after much heated conversation with the airline, we accepted the fact that the only other flight we could take would be this same flight the next day. A full 24 hours later. Pissed, hungry, and with a travel weary toddler, we waited for our bags in baggage claim, took a cab to a hotel and checked in for the night. Luke was a trooper and never complained (whew).

We got up to the room and having not had dinner yet, ordered Luke some room service. By 10pm he was saying, "Mommy... Lukey go night night?" and after procuring a hotel portable crib, he fell fast asleep.

Do we get HBO in this room?

Our flight wasn't to leave Chicago until the next evening so we were going to have to spend the day in Chicago. Sweet, right?! Chicago's a big town, there has gotta be lots of fun stuff to do around here! Well, not so much... It takes over an hour each way by train to get from the airport to downtown Chicago. Either that or a $75 cab ride each way. Add in that we'd need to be back for a nap and you buy yourself an exciting 30 minutes in downtown Chicago before you have to turn around and go back to the hotel.

Surely the great Chicago airport metropolitan area has numerous activities for stranded families? Guess again. Our options were a Wizards and Fantasy Convention at the airport convention center or.... anything else. We heard there was a Denny's within walking distance so we had to check that out. It sucked.

After breakfast at Denny's we went back to the hotel for a swim. That was fun but ended after Luke's non-swim diaper exploded cellulose pulp all over the place. We quickly gathered up our things and ran back to our room before anyone could blame the mess on us. Parent lesson # 16,371: Don't let your diaper wearing child in the water more than 15 minutes.

Then came nap time, checkout and finally our flight! The flight went great thanks to a portable DVD player worth its weight in gold and a steady supply of snacks. A short 10 hour flight later and 2 hour car ride we had arrived at our destination in St. Gatien, France.

Yay! We're finally here!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Move...

Hey there. Sorry for the delay... lots has been happening 'round the Svoboda house. First off, we bought a new Svoboda house, moved in, then sold the old house. So really, lots has been happening around two houses, and that has made for some very busy Svobodas.

We moved into our new house in the middle of July. As many of you already know, moving is one of the easiest things one could do. Furniture pretty much moves itself, boxes get packed by garden gnomes and our new houses are always in perfect shape when we move into them. We've decided we should move every few months, it really is the perfect was to enjoy the summer.

Luke, as always, was a great help. When Jen and I got tired, he pulled up the slack by packing boxes and filling up the Uhaul...




Things to pack: Luke (1)


Doublewide


Enough packing for today


Is this what Dad means when he says the band is going on tour?


Lucky Luke

Let's Move Out!



The first project I assigned Luke to in the new house was to put new flooring in his playroom to replace the carpeting that was there when we moved in. Not that Luke needed the help, but Nana, Grandpa, Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott were over that weekend to lend a hand.


The "before" picture (the grossness of the carpet just isn't captured by this photo):


After Luke unloaded the wood out of the truck, he went right to work...


Almost done, just a few more measurements to go...


All Done! Thanks for the help guys!



Here are some more pics of our first days in Jenner Cove:

More peas please


Teepee time! No girls allowed!


Sweet, the TV is set up. Gotta watch the Wiggles...


Right about the time we got all of our furniture moved in, we packed up our suitcases and went to France for a couple of weeks. Those pics to follow soon...

Sunday, July 01, 2007

201G Side Project - The Warlords of Freedom


Luke likes to watch me play the guitar. He sits next to me and plucks the strings and sings along and dances... but his favorite thing to do is to take my guitar pick and throw it in my guitar. To him, this is the goal of the game of guitar. He thinks it is hilarious, I find it a bit annoying especially when I'm in the zone thrashing on some Major 7th Arpeggios in "Head Shoulder's Knees and Toes" or my advanced acoustic Legato Technique buried deep inside "Oh Susanna". The album is never going to get done at this rate... But our groupie is hot and she feeds us so we're in no rush.

Luke has his own toddler sized guitar he received as a birthday gift from Martin (I don't know where he gets all this money, he doesn't even have a job and lives on his parents couch) . Since the day he got it Luke has always liked playing that guitar. Playing with it consists of breaking strings, dragging it along the ground, using it as a Maracatar (the musical instrument he invented by putting guitar picks in the body of a guitar and shaking the guitar like a maraca). For the sake of the poor mistreated guitar, we put it away for a few months while I did some Mr. Miyagi training on Luke to improve his chops. We recently reintroduced Luke's guitar to him for another try at a demo of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". We're just about to get to the killer guitar solo and... well you'll see...



We are currently looking for a lead singer preferably female and under the age of 3 that can speak to our demographic in a language they understand. We're thinking Gwen Stefani meets the Olsen twins. A ganster rap repertiore is a must. Tryouts will be held in Austin area parks over the next few weeks.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Welcome Winston

Paparazzi snuck into the D'Andrea hospital room and scored this picture of baby Winston. Ok, it wasn't paparazzi, it was me. But here he is! Congratulations Winston, you landed some pretty cool parents and an awesome big bro.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Bug bite, abscess, and needles, oh my!

Before I begin I must warn those of you with weak stomachs that this story is pretty gross. If the phrase "volcano of puss" makes you want to hurl, then look away now. Don't say you haven't been warned.

(Now if you are like me and you read that first paragraph you are thinking, "Sweet! I love a good disgusting medical tale, don't spare me the details!" And so for you like-minded readers, I will try not to disappoint.)

So we begin our saga last Thursday, approximately, with a simple mosquito bite, not unlike any other many mosquito bites we all get this time of year. But this particular bite bit back, and somehow, probably by him scratching it, acquired a secondary infection and started to get a bit red and swollen. We thought nothing of this for a couple of days and treated it alternately with Neosporin and hydrocortisone cream. Jump to late Saturday and into Sunday and the mosquito bite became more and more swollen, hard, and scarlet red. And Luke started to run a fever. Time to see the doctor. Monday morning I paced the floor until the pediatrician's office phone lines opened at 8am and I called and got an appointment with anyone available at 8:30 that morning. We made our way to the office and as soon as the doctor walked in the room she exclaimed, "oh my goodness that is quite a Staph infection you have there". She went on to explain that it is very common to get a Staph infection after a bug bite, scratch, or scrape, but that she wanted to treat it as if it is MRSA- methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus- until proven otherwise. MRSA is a much more serious strain of Staph that is resistant to most antibiotics, and by coincidence (or not?) she had seen several cases of last week. In order to diagnose that this was MRSA she had to retrieve a sample from inside the wound to culture. What followed was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. While Luke's legs were pinned down by me and his arms held down by a nurse, the doctor squeezed the abscess again and again and again while Luke wailed in pain. Twice she attempted to drain it by using a syringe needle to pop it, to no avail. Luke was screaming "Mommy!! Mommy!!" and I was crying right along with him. Eventually we decided to stop trying to pop it and to try again 48 hours later when it would be more "ripe". (Think teenage hormone fed monster zit times 100. As an admitted lover of popping zits, this would seem as if it were a dream come true to me, but given Luke's obvious horrible pain it was a nightmare.) The doctor drew a pen line around the redness and said if it spread beyond the pen border to immediately bring him in and that we'd probably have to admit him to the hospital for a surgical incision and drainage and IV antibiotics. We left with a prescription for oral antibiotics and one mad and hurting and pen-marked up little fellow.

What is this a picture of, a heat map of Antarctica? No, it's Luke's belly

The next day the sore had grown to the size of a baseball and was hard as a rock. Half the baseball was under the skin, half was above. He didn't seem in too much pain unless you directly touched it, so all was as well as could be expected while we waited for the antibiotics to work their magic. Then Luke suddenly broke out in humongous hives. One hive was the size of his entire upper leg. We rushed to the doctors office again while I panicked and feared he was going into anaphylactic shock (which he was not). The doctor said it was a common reaction to this type of antibiotic, and that we should switch him to this other antibiotic and start him on a precription antihistamine. She tried very briefly to squeeze the huge abscess again with the hopes of getting out some puss to culture, but it wasn't budging and Luke was in excruciating pain, so we planned on trying again the next day and we left, again. Within an hour of him taking the antihistamine the hives had started to subside and my nerves were finally starting to settle down a bit.

Now it is Wednesday, today, and the dreaded second attempt at popping the sucker was here. By now our warm heat compresses had helped the sore to come to a white head and it was just begging to explode. The doctor squeezed a bit, stabbed it with another syringe needle and it suddenly erupted like hot molten lava out of a volcano. A huge surge of puss and blood shot into the air literally 3 feet high, no exaggeration. Greenish yellow thick puss and blood sprayed onto the wall, onto my shirt (which, of course, was white), all in my hair, onto the doctor, on Louis and all over the table. It was epic. It was Quentin Tarantino movie worthy. Two other smaller 6 inch to 1 foot high eruptions followed, along with a chorus of "whoa!" by the doctor and me and Louis. Definitely MRSA she says, as no other type of Staph causes greenish thick puss like this. (Of course Luke was screaming bloody murder during all of this, but I know it must feel much better now that so much of that pressure was released.) The doc said she'd done hundreds of these procedures over the years and had never had one squirt out like that. She seemed impressed and surprised, and I think that's saying a lot for a jaded doctor. We later heard her excitedly retelling the story to the doctors and nurses in the hallway and their replies of "ewwww!". She thinks it should all heal up nicely now, and it already looks somewhat better although it is still the size of a ping pong ball and remains hard and very red. But I think he is now on the mend as long as the antibiotics do their job and whip some bad bug butt.

The funny thing about this doctors visit today was that a teenage boy was in the room and had been following our doctor around for the day. Sort of a "so you wanna be a doctor" kind of experience, and he witnessed the entire screaming baby green puss eruption and was obviously slightly traumatized. I asked him afterward if he was ok, and he never really responded with more than a "wow", and I won't be surprised if he ditches the medical school plans and joins a rock band. I'm sure he had quite a story to tell his friends though.

Post volcano, all bandaged up with a Care Bears Band Aid and a big dose of ibuprofen

While growing up my mom always said to us "don't pick that scab, you're going to get a Staph infection!" I never did get a Staph infection and probably thought she was paranoid and over-protective. Hmm, maybe she was right... Don't tell her I said that. I'll never admit to it.

To hopefully dull the image in your brain of a Staph infected wounded Luke I have included a sweet picture of my sleeping beauty in one of his more serene moments. I snuck into Luke's room while he was sleeping (to check for more hives) and found this cute scene- Luke and Koko (the Koala bear) cuddling while snoozing. (His Aunt Yasmine sent him this Koala from Australia when he was born and it's been in his crib since day 1.) Sweet dreams little tough guy. You're a trooper.

End note:

While waiting in line to check out at the pediatrician's office today, my friend, Erin (of Martin's blog http://www.dandreafamilyjournal.blogspot.com/), called with terrific news. Their new son, Mr. Winston Raphael D'Andrea, was born today! Welcome to the world little guy!! And don't pick your scabs!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Cupcakes and Dreams

This weekend we attended a super fun BBQ at the Weiss's house and Luke spent the afternoon hanging with his best buds splashing in the kiddy pool, playing with bubbles, and munching on tasty snacks. After dinner he was presented with his first ever delicious frosted cupcake. At first he was wary...

What is this thing you call a cupcake?

Then his taste buds danced and he realized...

I LOVE CUPCAKES!